If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will be required to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Talk About Bad Luck

07-13-2011, 08:18 PM

Well we had some real fast and hard hitting storms come through the Chicago area Monday. Nine times out of ten my parents house will lose power along with 18 other homes in the subdivision. Since its only 18 homes ComEd puts them on the low priority list, even though they all are on a well. We where prepared this time with our 15+ year old Milwaukee generator. Ran in two heavy gauge cords to run both refrigerators, a fan and some other small electronics.

The generator been running since Monday early afternoon, and it went out early morning today. They been filling its gas tank every 3 hours ( unit runs 3 1/2 hours on a full tank). So since it never died out no one been checking the oil on this poor beast. Sure enough it burned most of its oil that I made sure it had when I first started it. So now the engine is seized. I pulled the head off, its an old Kohler single cylinder cast iron engine. The piston and the cylinder walls are fine, so it has to be a spun bearing on the crank or connecting rod.

So here is my dilemma. The one small engine place by me is long gone. I called one other place and he needs the serial # or Model and series number.. Sadly I can not locate this anywhere on the unit. Kohler Engine website does not show engines that old. Any one know of a place where I can get some sort of catalog and or parts to rebuild this engine? Or do you all think its best to replace the engine, or just replace the whole generator. I priced out a Ridgid Generator 8800 watts $1299... lots of cash when times are slim.

Many years ago we were doing a sewer and our generator seized up as well, for some unknown reason, and we were screwed cause we needed power to finish. The backhoe driver got off the machine and took the engine apart and fixed it right on the spot...shocked the hell out of us. This driver was a farm boy born and raised, with ungodly talents I never seen before.

Me personally, when it comes to generators I'm sold hook-line & sinker on Honda.

Comment

I was thinking about that as well. Maybe a cheap Harbor Freight engine. Right now I took my power inverter out of my truck and hooked it up in my mom's car and they are running the fridges off it for now.

Comment

Well, someone must said a little prayer or sent some good thoughts our way. ComEd was saying no power till Saturday. It just came on 5 minutes ago.

So no rush to fix it, which means I can tear the bad boy apart and see if I can find an identifying number on it. I have found that its close to a the K-91 but a tad larger. The K-91 is only a 4hp unit I think this one is an 8hp unit. But the head bolt set up the piston and valve lay out are all the same.

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

The Kohler site does not show any of the older models. Wish they did. My Dig-It has a newer Kohler Engine and the data plate is on the air shroud. This engine of course has no ID plate anywhere, just the cover says Kohler on it. A neighbor up the road started his own small engine repair shop last summer. So we dropped it off over there. He will let us know Monday what it needs to be fixed up. Thank you all for your replies and links. I bookmarked them all for future reference.